So Wellum had decided to sell his slaves. Though he would not openly voice support for the movement, he would also not oppose it. To do so would invite open opposition from the other side.
Twenty
Captain Suni Tashika of the Butterworth, now given the title Shadow Ship by the locals, faced the captain of the freighter, in the main view screen, she had taken the Butterworth to rendezvous with, asking where Frank was. She was of course, asking for the Kinorian mechanic named Kalo.
"I know of no person aboard my vessel with that name. You are the Shadow Ship, aren't you?" the captain said in awe.
"You were supposed to take on a Kinorian shipman at Iskol. Did that not happen?" Suni badgered him.
"We were supposed to, but he never showed up. The only things we have are three crates. We were supposed to meet a ship at these coordinates and hand them over. We never imagined it would be the Shadow Ship."
"This is not the 'Shadow Ship'," Suni replied, irritated.
"It sure looks like it to me. It's the very one that I saw in those holos… unless you've just made a grand copy of it. And I think I remember seeing your image in some of those holos. You people are all over the news. I don't think you're going to be able to hide who you are. They're looking for you everywhere. Where have you been?"
"For the last time, this is NOT the Shadow Ship. If you're referring to the old ones of the legends we've heard of, there's not a one of us who could possibly be that old. We're coming aboard your ship to look for the Kinorian."
"Captain, we have schedules to meet. We really need to hand over the crates and be moving along."
"That's not going to happen until we search for the rest of the cargo we asked to be delivered."
"Your Kinorian…"
"Our Kinorian."
"It seems we're at your mercy. Please be kind enough to be expedient."
"We'll be boarding shortly."
Sandy and Michelle boarded the new shuttle to make the crossing to the freighter. The new shuttle was faster, sleeker and more powerful. Its weapons and armaments had been vastly improved over that of the old shuttle and it had a stronger hull. When they stepped aboard the freighter to look for Frank, they were not wearing skinsuits; they were wearing warsuits. Warsuits were more obvious than skinsuits. At first glance, they are more intimidating, it being obvious to whomever might look upon them, that these suits were made for battle.
Joining Sandy and Michelle were Smash and Bash; two warbots that had improvements even over Trong. There was no difficulty getting cooperation from the captain or crew of the freighter in the search for Frank. The three crates holding the warbots Trong, Mangle and Crush were loaded into the shuttle while they looked for him.
"We've gone over every inch of this vessel, Suni. We've scanned and double-scanned every nook and cranny. He's not here," Sandy told her over the secure microset.
"It can't be. Net says he boarded this vessel. He's not on Iskol. Did you check the ship's records?"
"We've taken the computer apart. There is no record of him boarding. There is also no record of this vessel stopping anywhere since it left Iskol."
"Could they have dumped him into space?"
"Not without stopping. That's the nature of the vulaxium hull. If any part of the exterior is not made of pure vulaxium, say like the opening of an external hatch, the entire vessel is destroyed. I don't think they would have risked even trying something like that."
Suni frowned at her frustration, then aimed her next comment at the freighter captain.
"Captain, if I find that you've done something to this person and are not telling me, I promise that I will hunt you down and make you pay for it."
"I assure you, Captain, we took no Kinorian on at Iskol. I don't know what happened to him. Even if he were trying to hide from the authorities, I would not dump him into space or anything like that. By most laws and treaties, I am obliged to lock him up and deliver him to them at my next port-o-call. We're just shippers, Captain. We want no trouble."
"Okay, Sandy. You and Michelle head back. If he didn't get on this freighter, then maybe he got on another one. There'll have to be a record of that somewhere."
"Aye, Suni. We're on our way."
Twenty-One
"Skinsuit malfunction?"
"Affirmative," Frank's skinsuit replied.
"But aren't you self-repairing?"
"Affirmative."
"Then affect repairs."
"Unable to comply."
"Why?"
"This is an external malfunction. This suit is unable to repair external devices."
"External devices? The Kinorian module?"
"Affirmative."
"It seems to be working fine."
"It will fail in approximately six hours."
"I'll look like a human again?"
"Affirmative."
Frank headed back to the Mechanic’s Room and sent Salba on an errand, then contacted the captain.
"What's so important that ya've got ta see me in the library right now, Kalo?" the captain demanded, "Can't it wait?"
"I'm sorry, Captain. This is very important. It's an emergency."
"Ship in danger?"
"No! No, not at all," Frank said.
"Then it can wait."
"Captain, it really can't wait. I must see you right away."
"Fine, I'll meet you in the ship's library."
"Alone, Captain. Please."
"Alright. Alone."
Frank headed up to the ship's library. Going through the corridors, he passed three other crewmembers and could not help wondering how he was going to manage this without running into others for the next few days. And there was no errand he could send Salba on for that long. When he got to the library, the captain was waiting for him.
"So what's this all about, Kalo."
"I need your help, Captain."
"You need money…"
"No. You see, the thing is…"
"Speak it, Kalo."
"I'm… not really who I seem to be."
"Oh?"
"Well… I needed to get off Iskol… because they're looking for me."
"Ah. Well, I guess it won't be the first time I've come across a crewman on the run."
"Ah… I'm really on the run. You see, it's not just the Iskolians looking for me, others are too."
"Which others?"
"Well, remember how much you love the Okofani?"
"You on the run from them?" he said, a little taken aback, "What the hell ya do, son?"
"I… ah… killed several of them."
"Whoa. Now I'm not believin' ya. I'm pretty sure no Kinorian could take out an Okofani… well, maybe one, on dumb luck. But not several."
"Uh… I'm not Kinorian."
"Really? There's more, then?"
"Yes. I'm that Shadow Rider you were talking about. But my ship really isn't a Shadow Ship. I've never heard of them, and I'm certainly not even old enough to have been around that long."
"Kalo, I think I might have to confine you to quarters for the rest of the trip. I believe you've lost yer mind."
"That would be perfect, Captain. So long as no one comes into my quarters."
"Can't do that. We have to check on ya. Anytime someone shows signs of mental breakdown, we're bound to keep an eye on 'em."
"Then I guess I'll have to show you," Frank gave to his skinsuit the command to shut down the Kinorian module. In moments, he shifted back to his human form. The captain gasped for a moment, then just stared at him.
"Captain?"
"I'm seein' it. I ain't believin' it."
"It's true. It's how I escaped Iskol. I'm him. I'm the one they're hunting for."
"All this time, right here on my ship," he said, amazed, "Nobody knows where ya are—who ya are! Don't that just beat all."
"You must not tell anyone, Captain."
"Musn't I?"
"No. If they find out where I am, my people will find out where I am. And wherever we stop th
ey'll be waiting. You can bet there'll be a battle. I'm sure you don't want your ship getting caught up in the middle of something like that."
The captain paused and thought for a moment. "No. I don't want my ship mixed up in that. We'll have to keep ya secret. But why ya tellin' me all this? Yer cover was good. Nobody suspected ya of anythin'."
"Because my disguise is about to fail. In about five hours, the module that makes me look like a Kinorian will fail, and I'll appear completely human for the rest of the trip."
"Achhhhh. This is bad. We'll have ta hide ya. If any of the other crewmembers see ya, he'll be sure to gab 'bout it. And not after long, somebody outside the ship'll find out. Won't be long 'fore the Okofani are on our tail."
"Yes, but how?"
"It's only six more days 'til landfall on Relm. We'll think of—"
"Relm? What happened to the rendezvous we're supposed to make?"
"Rendezvous? There's no rendezvous. This is a straight trip to Relm."
"We were supposed to rendezvous with another ship along the way. It's my ship. They're to pick me up and collect a shipment of three crates."
"Never heard o' such a thing, Ka… I don't suppose yer real name is Kalo either, is it?"
"No, it's Frank Jameson."
"Frank Jameson. Okay Frank Jameson—"
"You can call me Frank."
"Alright, Frank. I can hide ya as far as Relm. But then what?"
"I'm not sure. Do you have any spare shipping crates?"
"Everything gets inspected before it leaves the ship. They'd open it and find ya."
"I have protectors with me… I think." At that moment, Frank attempted to contact Trong, and waited for the response. After a few moments, he spoke again. "I may not have protectors with me."
"You mean the three crates ya speak of. Yer protectors wouldn't be them three big fightin' robots, would they?"
"They would be, but they're not answering my hails."
"Sounds ta me like ya got on the wrong ship, while they mighta got on the right one."
"That was supposed to be impossible. I can't think of anything that could have gone wrong. The whole plan was fool-proof."
"Well, that mighta been the error right there—thinkin' it was fool-proof."
"They gave me everything I needed. The only change was when we included the sla—"
"The what?"
"The slaves. In the plan. We changed the plan to allow the slaves to participate in my escape. They must've done it, somehow."
"Done what?"
"Changed my boarding key. When I was in the tram station, the station was packed with slaves. One of them must have picked my pocket—exchanged my boarding key for this one. Then I got on the wrong ship, while my protectors got on the right ship."
"Now why would slaves be wantin' ya ta go ta Relm?"
"They believe I'm here to set them free."
"You?"
"I didn't inspire them, if that's what you mean."
"Then who did?"
"Some shaman on their planet—Relm."
"Seems ta me they seen ya comin' with that big ship o yer's an' all that power ya got, an they seen their savior."
"They had evidence to back up their claims—evidence that existed long before I ever arrived here."
"Here? What da ya be meanin' by 'here'?"
"Here, at the galactic hub."
"The galac—how far do ya come from, son?"
"Very far. Farther than these ships could go in a hundred years."
"By god… ya really are the Shadow Rider. And how long did it take ya ta get ta the galactic hub?"
"A few days."
"Whoa! No ship goes that fast," he almost whispered.
"Faster, if I leave the galaxy."
"What's this? Nobody ever talked about leavin' the galaxy. There's far too much space 'tween galaxies. It'd take one o' these ships ten thousand years to cross. No ship could carry that much fuel."
Frank dodged the rest of that conversation. Saying more could tell not only the captain, but also others about his ship's capabilities.
"If the slaves were that organized that they could do this, they may have a plan for getting me off the ship and out of the spaceport. I'm willing to bet that there'll be someone waiting for me when we arrive."
"Not unless they planned it well in advance of yer departin. An' then warned their pals on Relm ahead of ya."
"They may have."
"I'll be hopin' yer right. 'Cause if yer not, we'll both be boilin' in oil 'fore that day's over. But I'd rather take a chance gettin' caught with ya than gettin' caught in a battle 'tween the Okofani and yer people."
"Then I'll be in my quarters for the rest of the trip."
"Ya can't. Well, ya can for the next few days, but for the last couple hours of the trip, you'll need to be in an acceleration chair. There are none in the crew quarters."
"I can shut the module down now, and that should give me a couple hours at least, when I'll be able to use it. It might even give me time to get out of the spaceport. But I'd have to shut it down soon."
"Then, we get ya ta yer quarters and I'll quarantine ya. Nobody'll mess with ya ifen they don't have ta."
Frank spent the rest of the trip in his quarters. The captain brought him his food and made sure that no one else went into his room. There, he browsed through more of the library files via the ship's network and chatted with the captain about the history of the galaxy.
During this time, the captain took certain enjoyment in being one of the few captains in the universe to spend hours on end conversing intimately with the Shadow Rider about the history of the universe, and whatever else came up. This would be a story handed down to his grandchildren and on for several generations beyond. This story would likely make him famous. But the captain also found himself liking Frank, whom he often referred to as Kalo.
Two hours before deceleration, the captain came to Frank's room and let him know it was time. Frank once again switched on his Kinorian disguise and was immediately reminded of the pain it caused. He instructed his skinsuit to apply the anesthesia and walked down to his deceleration seat.
"External module will fail in three point six hours," his skinsuit advised him. This would give him an hour and thirty-six minutes to clear the spaceport after they landed.
Since the time he had first gotten aboard the ship, he had reviewed the instructions for operating the acceleration/deceleration seat, and found that the first time he had gotten into the seat, he had failed to turn it on. This explained why the acceleration he had endured the first time had been so great. Properly used, he should not experience more than a few G's of acceleration. This time, he would make sure to do so.
Deceleration began only a few moments after he got into the seat, and persisted for the next hour, while the ship slowed for descent into Relm Spaceport. Once deceleration was completed, Frank made his way to the bridge and got a glimpse of Relm from the space above it. It was a blue-green world with white caps at its poles. Ocean covered the majority of its surface, having only a single continent that was green and mountainous. Its sky was spattered with white clouds, and over the ocean west of the continent, deep in the southern hemisphere, a gigantic storm raged.
It took another hour for the ship to make landfall on the western coast of the continent. Within minutes after landing, the captain escorted Frank to the fastest way off the ship and along the way gave him instructions for the fastest way out of the spaceport.
He exited the ship through the crew port, which was the one nearest the bottom of the ship. Only within a few meters of the exit, he was met by an Iskolian port agent and was asked for his papers. He presented them to the agent.
"Says you're Kinorian, here. Your ship's leaving again in six hours. What's your business leaving your ship?" the agent asked.
"I planned to purchase some souvenirs of this planet," Frank replied.
"You can get those in the gift shops here in the port."
"True, but t
he prices would be inflated and I'm sure I'd rather have a wider selection to choose from if I get them outside the port."
"The prices won't be all that different outside," the agent confided, "You might do better going to the poor side of town, where you can pick up some of the stuff made by the locals."
"Thank you," Frank replied.
"Your visa's good for six hours. Have a good view."
"I will."
Frank thought the agent seemed friendly enough, unlike the agents he had met going through the spaceport on Iskol. He checked his time and found that he had about an hour and twenty minutes to get clear before his Kinorian module failed. It took half an hour to get clear of the spaceport, and Frank took the Iskolin port agent's suggestion and headed for the poor side of town. There, he expected to run into some of the locals who hopefully, would recognize him when the module failed, and remove him from the city.
He found a map of Relm City and scanned it for hints that would tell him which way the poor side of town was. This did not take long. There were lots of roads for vehicle traffic, but there was also an extensive tramway system, and much of the tram traffic was focused in a particular area. This, he decided would be near the poor section of town. He got his bearings and found a tram station, got a ticket and headed for the largest tram station he could see on the map.
Since this was more of an outpost city, all of the tramways were above ground, so as he approached the big tram station, he noticed that the dwellings he passed by became more run down. This he guessed, was the poor side of town. His Kinorian module had about 25 minutes left on it. Even so, certain of his Kinorian features were beginning to degrade as the module began to fail.
Leaving the tram in the large station, he found himself surrounded by Relmish people. There were a few Iskolians scattered about, but by far the Relmish outnumbered them. He left the tram station on foot and walked until he came upon a stretch of small shops, apparently owned by Relmish people. He stepped into the third one he came upon, which was a small food store, having all manner of Relmish staple food items.
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